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Review of Samuel Cohen's 50 EssaysUsefulness of the Anthology as an Introduction to CompositionThis anthology is an excellent starting point for the genre and is acceptable for any upper level high school to college-level composition class.
Along with the content, the instructor should take advantage of the extra materials. Tables of content are listed by:
These listing are a great guide to instructors when they construct a reading schedule, allowing them to use the right essay at the right time without having to keep many personal notes for arrangement. This set up saves a lot of time and effort on the teacher’s part, allowing him or her to focus on other aspects of the class. Quick Reference GuidesBoth a documentation guide and glossary of writing terms are presented in the back of the book. For students these are a fantastic quick reference guides that give them fast access to information with having to thumb through bulky style manuals. The glossary definitions are also plainly worded enough to be accessible to students of all skill levels. These features are especially attractive to students who will want to keep track of as few textbooks as possible while making sure as much information is available as possible. The rear of the book also contains excellent links for bedfordstmartins.com/50essays and bedfordstmartins.com/rewriting that provide additional resources and exercises for students and instructors. These online resources also help the instructor deliver multimedia lessons with assistance from the publishing company. Essay ContentVirtually all of the essays are first-rate works and even includes a variety of excerpts ranging from Platonic Dialogues to Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickled and Dimed. Likewise, a fair number of controversial writers are represented for instructors who want to challenge their students. Authors like Malcom X, Bernard Cooper, and Vicki Hearne all keep students on their toes in this collection. Not everything is so politically loaded, but this anthology is especially good for its commitments to both multifaceted issues and the technical craft of composition. Textual ExtrasThe few questions at the end of each selection can be used for writing exercises or to promote discussion in class about the essay and its topic. Many questions also make connections to other essays in the collection allowing many readings to be paired and read to provide a range of positions on for any particular issue of compositional style. Each essay is introduced with a thumbnail biographical sketch of the author. While this feature is nice for less advanced students, for others it can read more like a caricature of prolific and complex individuals such as Langston Hughes, Thomas Jefferson, or George Orwell. Ultimately, this anthology is a fantastic bank of essays to provide students with examples of a variety of essayists each at the top of his or her game.
The copyright of the article Review of Samuel Cohen's 50 Essays in Essay Writing is owned by Seth Tomko. Permission to republish Review of Samuel Cohen's 50 Essays in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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